Ice eyes provincial berth

Sporting an 8-0 record in North Island League play, the Isfeld Ice senior girls basketball team has its eye on securing one of two Vancouver Island berths to provincials in Langley.

Its opportunity will come Feb. 15-17 when Mark Isfeld Secondary hosts the AA girls Island championships. There will be four teams from the South Island and four from the North.

“We’ve had a really good season,” said Sherri Bohmer, who co-coaches with Ken Erikson. “We’re definitely pushing for a run to go to provincials this year. It’ll be a battle with the South Island teams, as per the norm. We have a good chance of making it.”

This is essentially the same Isfeld team that qualified for the B.C. junior championships in 2016.

“Those girls are now in Grade 12,” Bohmer said. “This year we also pulled up two junior girls. One’s in Grade 9 and one’s in Grade 10. They’re both outstanding players.”

The season has included frequent road trips around the Island and the mainland. The girls won the Cowichan tournament two weeks ago, and had second-place results at tourneys in Richmond and Pitt Meadows. Bohmer said the latter is a quick team that provided the most challenging game so far this season.

“It was a really good experience for the girls,” said Bohmer, whose team will bypass the North Island playdowns.

She expects South Island leader St. Michael’s University and Royal Bay, both Victoria schools, will be the teams to beat at Islands. But that’s not to say Bohmer is taking anything for granted when it comes to North Island teams.

“Alberni is always a bit of a mental tough game for us,” she said. “Ballenas, last year, brought in an exchange student the first week of February who was outrageously good. Anything could change next week.”